Mailing, USPS, Postal Regulations

Why One Mailing Team Beats Multiple Vendors

So, your direct mail job has been printed. This means that the journey to the customer’s mailbox is pretty much over, right?

Not so fast.

Your mail still needs to be ready for the U.S. Postal Service.

In the wrong hands, so many mistakes can be made with this work.

Mismatched inserts. Incorrect postage. Failure to meet USPS guidelines. Delays by a mailing house in picking up your campaign from the printer’s loading dock.

Any of these problems can hold up your mail from entering the postal system. The result? Your mail might not get to your customer’s home or business on time.

A one-stop shop

A direct mail campaign involves a lot of moving parts. A single team can more easily manage every aspect of your campaign, from consultation to printing to mailing, than multiple vendors.

When you put your mail in the right hands – and all under one roof – you’ll save money and time. You’ll also sleep better at night knowing that mailing.com can handle all of your direct mail needs.

Here are some of the in-house mailing services that mailing.com provides:

Inserting

If you’re not mailing postcards, your direct mail efforts are probably more complex. Your individual needs for each campaign give you more options, depending on your budget, schedule, and strategy. Regardless of your choices, though, you still want your mail out the door sooner, not later.

Our high-speed machines get several jobs done quickly and accurately, including:

  •         Matching one piece to another
  •         Inserting multiple pieces
  •         Affixing stamps
  •         Printing addresses, teaser copy, and logos
  •         Working with envelopes measuring up to 9”x12”
  •         Folding down your self-mailer from a large piece of paper before tabbing, inserting, or addressing
  •         Sealing with fugitive or “spot” glue

Thanks to our dedicated and knowledgeable staff, we get the right materials to the right place on time.

Presort and workshare discounts

The cost of entry to the USPS mainstream is not a barrier for most companies. In fact, the postal service has specific discounts and easier processes for companies that follow certain procedures.

To speed your mail’s passage into and through the postal system, USPS provides pricing incentives to marketers that organize campaigns ahead of time. Putting all of the mail in a campaign in zip code order saves the postal service time later.

The USPS also encourages two good work-share methods that can help meet your cost challenges: commingling and co-palletization. Mailing campaigns that get prepared by either program get processed more quickly by the USPS, which means they arrive in-home sooner.

Commingling allows you to organize letters and flats (self-mailers and postcards) in trays and tubs by zip code. The more digits that are matched in the sort, the greater the discount.

Co-palletization combines addressed and sorted mail trays from different marketers or providers, separated by zip code, on the same pallet. This way, each full pallet is completely prepared, then trucked for an easy passage to its destination sectional center facility.

In-house USPS verification

Here’s a scary scenario: You think your hot-off-the-press mailpiece is ready to go, and then you find out the USPS rejected it at the last minute.

It happens more often than you think. Postal regulations can be complex. They’re designed to give marketers some amount of design and printing flexibility, while at the same time, not so much that they can cause the system’s processing equipment to grind to a halt.

Fortunately, thanks to mailing.com’s record of efficiency and accuracy, we host a USPS verification office right inside our facility. Beginning early on in the process, these experts can ensure that your mailing complies with USPS regulations. 

Wrapping it up

Your business needs to grow, expand, and compete. By placing your trust in one company to execute your mail campaign from start to finish, you’re more likely to meet your marketing goals.

The direct mail pros at mailing.com have years of experience working on complex campaigns for large companies like GEICO, Subaru, Health Net, and Renewal by Andersen. We can help you put together a complete and cost-effective direct mail campaign to accomplish your goals quickly.

Drop us a line or call us! We’d love to show you how to put mail to work in your next campaign.

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